This invention pertains to the art of roof constructions and more particularly to roof constructions for bulk freight type vehicles.
The invention is particularly applicable to a curved roof construction for a hopper type rail car and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention has broader applications and may be advantageously adapted to use in other environments.
So-called curved or bowed roof constructions for hopper type rail cars are already known in the art. Such constructions are considered desirable from the standpoint of providing increased roof strength or stiffness while maximizing the percentage of usable volume to actual load volume capacity. Although such curved or bowed roof constructions are broadly known, the prior constructions involved have generally been rather complicated in design, thus requiring many different component parts which often had to be precisely installed to achieve an acceptable roof construction. The foregoing factors undesirably increased car assembly time and overall car costs. Moreover, prior curved roof constructions for hopper cars have not given due and appropriate consideration to maximizing roof strength so as to resist the various forces imparted thereto and thereagainst during normal car use.
The subject invention overcomes the foregoing problems and others to provide a new curved roof constructions for a hopper type rail car which is simple in design, easy to construct, easy to install on a hopper car superstructure and which provides suitable strength characteristics to resist normal operational forces.